Asus AC86U VS AX86U Pro Range

[Lydia1989]

- I currently have an AC86U, the wifi signal is weak when i go outside, sometimes wifi disconnects.

- Planning to upgrade to AX86U Pro, i saw asus advertises 80% better Wifi range than AC variant

is that true has anyone been able to verify that ?

 

[bennor]

Have you tried doing a forum search for past discussions about the two units? For example from last month...

RT-AX86U Pro .... better range and stability than RT-AC86U ?

 

[Smokey613]

My AX86U_Pro has excellent wifi coverage. I am not sure it is better than my AC86U, but certainly just as good.

 

[drinkingbird]

- I currently have an AC86U, the wifi signal is weak when i go outside, sometimes wifi disconnects.

- Planning to upgrade to AX86U Pro, i saw asus advertises 80% better Wifi range than AC variant

is that true has anyone been able to verify that ?

First, no it won't have 80% more range unless your clients support explicit beamforming (doubtful on 2.4ghz which is what you're using outside most likely). Even then, probably not 80% or even close to it, that's a theoretical number in a test environment with a single really good client etc.

It may be a bit better, newer radios and AX both have improved things, but outdoor coverage will always be a challenge especially from a router mounted inside. The higher up you can get the router the better, and also use the recommended antenna orientation \ | / as that can help the signal get out through windows etc.

 

[Crimliar]

I upgraded from my RT-AC86u to the GT-AX6000 when the older router was starting to max out on 2.4GHz clients and suffer the occasional Kernal Panic (even with no TrendMicro stuff). The 2.4GHz performance on the new router is better than the old router, but not earth-shatteringly so. It's the 5GHz performance that seems to be in a different league!

 

[fryedchikin]

One trick I have seen work very well on a trusty RT-AC68 is just remove one of the 3 router mounted antennas and replace with a cable running to externally mounted antenna located where you need the improved coverage.

 

[drinkingbird]

One trick I have seen work very well on a trusty RT-AC68 is just remove one of the 3 router mounted antennas and replace with a cable running to externally mounted antenna located where you need the improved coverage.

That's definitely not what you want to do. The 3 antennas work as a system, you can't split them up without causing problems. If you have one single client that might work, you may get 2 stream inside and 1 stream outside but most likely it will cause more problems than it will fix, such as client running in B or G mode. Where have you seen that work well?

 

[Crimliar]

Isn't another issue (I'm prepared to be wrong here) that the connected antennas are centre-fed dipoles, while many replacements only have the transmitter element, expecting the ground side to be handled by the router?

 

[drinkingbird]

Isn't another issue (I'm prepared to be wrong here) that the connected antennas are centre-fed dipoles, while many replacements only have the transmitter element, expecting the ground side to be handled by the router?

It could be done using the correct antennas (or the stock ones) along with an rp-sma cable which will feed both center pin and ground. But you'd want to do all 3 antennas. But with the cost of good coax cable and the fairly short distance limitations, it would be cheaper to just get an outdoor AP and run an ethernet back.